IKEA AND HOFSTEDE

AKA. the cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories and what
it has to do with the chair you are probably sitting on
by Artem Bielorozov and Adam Kecskemti
Geert Hofstedes research

His goals: develop a commonly acceptable terminology

to describe cultures and to use systematically collected
(scientic) data about cultures

Between 1967 and 1978 then repeated 1971 to 1973

From a large multinational corporation, wide array of

employees

116 000 questionnaires collected

50 coutries
4 cultural dimensions

Individualism vs Collectivism

Large or Small Power Distance

Strong or Weak Uncertainty Avoidance

Masculinity versus Feminity

Individualism vs.
Collectivism

Relation between an individual and his

fellow individuals

Closely related to the countries wealth

Most thoroughly investigated

Individualism vs.
Collectivism
Individualism:

Self-interest

Large freedom to individuals

in the society

Autonomy

Individual achievements
Collectivism:

Interest of the (in)group

Ingroup offers protection

Tightly integrated society

Power distance

How society deals with

unequality

All societies are unequal but

some are more unequal than
others

Rooted in the mindset of the

people

Acceptance of power
differences
Power distance
Large power distance

Ease in following authority

Centralized command

Hierarchy with many layers

Power of rank
Small power distance

Decentralized

Less power of authority gure

Fewer layers

Authority can be challenged

Uncertainty avoidance

Way how societies deal with the risk of

the future

How individuals cope with anxiety

Tends to be rooted in culture and less

in mindset
Uncertainty avoidance
Weak uncertainty avoidance

Tolerant

Hardly working

Risks taking

No real respect for rules and

procedures or hierarchy
Strong uncertainty avoidance

Beating the future

Higher level of anxiety

Institutions to create safety

against unpredictable

Technology

Law (and experts)

Religion (and ideologies)

Absolute truths desireable

Masculinity vs. Feminity

How society deals with the fact that

there are men and women

Gender roles

Rather social division than biological

Masculinity vs. Feminity
Masculine

Visible values matter

Big is beautiful

Men have dominant and

assertive roles

Women have service-oriented

and caretaker roles

Public heroes, the superman

is favored
Feminine

Smaller sex role division

Relationships before prot

Helping others and

preserving the environment

Small is beautiful

Individual brilliance, the

underdog is favored
Purpose and goal

Raising awareness that not all theories and methods

apply everywhere

Setting a need for management/organizational

anthropology

Helping managers better understand multinational

corporations employees behavior
The convergence of management will never come. What we can bring
about is an understanding of how the culture in which we grew up and
which is dear to us a!ects our thinking di!erently from other peoples'
thinking, and what this means for the transfer of management practices
and theories.

- Geert Hofstede
Changes begin at home
Russia 14 stores
Europe 227 stores
North America 49
stores
IKEA Group year 2012
Asia 17
stores
Australia 5 stores

Unique design capabilities

Unique sourcing

Tightly controlled logistics

INGVAR
KAMPRAD
ELMTARYD
AGUNNARYD
Ingvar Kamprad 17 years old
The showroom in Almhult
the heart of furniture empire
The rst IKEA store
IKEA mission is to offer a
wide range of home
furnishing items of good
design and function,
at prices so low that the
majority of people
can afford to buy them
The balance and complementariness of:
Strategic Sourcing and the
Marketing Mix
IKEA management style
To be close to co-workers
IKEA employees
Opinion, questions
Thank you very much for your
attention!